1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a slide adjuster for enabling slide of a belt against a buckle to adjust a length of and fix the belt.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been known a slide adjuster comprising a buckle and a belt, and the slide adjuster has the configuration in which an engagement groove is provided on the belt and a hook of the buckle is elastically engaged in this groove so that the hooked state can be released from time to time according to the necessity.
The present inventors proposed in JP 2000-135103A (Patent document 1) an easy-to-produce and light weight buckle made of synthetic resin, and the buckle has a buckle body comprising a bottom plate and a ceiling frame opposite to each other and two side plates for connection between the bottom plate and the ceiling frame and an internal space for insertion of a belt having an engagement groove; and an operating plate which is horizontally placed inside the ceiling frame and has an engagement claw provided on a bottom surface of an end portion thereof and capable of being engaged in the engagement groove of the belt with a top surface at another end portion thereof to be pressed down. When the operating plate is linked to each of two opposite edges of the ceiling frame at an intermediate point between the engagement claw and the pressed section, the operating plate can freely be swung at the intermediate point as a fulcrum. Furthermore, a pair of hooking projections is provided on an external surface of the belt and on the ceiling frame, and the hooking projections make it possible to slide closer the belt with finger tips of one hand.
The synthetic resin-made buckle is functionally very excellent, and is the best one as a buckle for a headband of a helmet, but there are still the needs for development of slide adjusters for a belt and a buckle which are used together with dresses such as hats, trousers, skirts and the like requiring an excellent appearance as an important factor, and the desired slide adjusters are required to have a light weight and a simple structure, and also to have a buckle section having an appearance not so visible. Especially, the desired slide adjusters are required to have a synthetic resin-made and single-peace simple structure.
In the synthetic resin made buckle disclosed in Patent document 1, the hooking projections enabling finger tip operations with one hand are provided on the ceiling frame constituting the buckle body, and therefore it is not easy to hide the buckle body from the external appearance of hats, trousers, and the like.
On the other hand, the present inventors disclosed a belt with a buckle enabling connection between two end portions of a belt in the circular state by inserting an end potion of the belt into a cylindrical buckle provided at another end portion of the belt and adjusting the circumferential length of the belt in JP 2001-204518A (Patent Document 2). In this belt with a buckle, an recessed portion for engagement having a saw teeth-like form is formed along an edge portion of the one end portion, and also a projecting portion for engagement is provided in the space for insertion inside the buckle body, and in the state where the projection portion for engagement and the recessed portion of engagement are hooked with each other, the one end portion of the belt can move forward but can not move backward in the insertion space. Furthermore, a guide is provided at a position at least close to the projecting section for engagement in the insertion space for restricting swinging movement of the belt on a plain perpendicular to the direction in which the belt advances, and also an operating piece having the projecting section for engagement are provided substantially in the insertion space in parallel to the direction in which the belt advances, and the engagement between the recessed portion for engagement and the projecting portion for engagement can be released.
This belt with a buckle is well adapted to use as a slide adjuster for a wrist watch or the like because the buckle thickness can be made smaller, but the buckle section is completely exposed, and therefore the requirement as described above is not satisfied.
Patent document 1: JP 2000-135103 A
Patent document 2: JP 2001-204518 A